#12 UNC Weathers Big #4 Irish Rally, Wins in OT

Notre Dame ended regulation on a 4-0 run to force the extra session. The Irish surge began on a Westy Hopkins goal with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter. Junior attackman Sean Rogers cut the Tar Heel lead to two (8-6) with 1:24 remaining. Notre Dame made it a one-goal game seven seconds later after senior Jake Marmul won the faceoff and assisted on a Colin Igoe goal. Igoe, a senior attackman, knotted the game (8-8) with 13 seconds left in regulation.

North Carolina (10-5) jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind back-to-back goals from Nicky Galasso and a score from Marcus Holman, who had a game-high three goals. Hopkins, a freshman attackman, put the Irish on the board with 3:18 left in the opening quarter. The Tar Heels led 3-1 after the first quarter.

Goals from Holman and Ryan Creighton 52 seconds apart gave North Carolina a 5-1 lead by the 8:31 mark of the second period. The Irish answered back with a goal from sophomore midfielder Tyler Kimball off a pass from Eric Keppeler. It was the first career goal for Kimball. North Carolina led 5-2 at the intermission.

A goal from Fighting Irish senior midfielder David Earl cut the Tar Heel lead to two (5-3) just over a minute into the second half. Scores from Creighton and Foster extended the North Carolina advantage to four (7-3) midway through the third quarter. Earl's second tally of the quarter put the Irish back to within three (7-4) by the end of the third period.

North Carolina went up by four (8-4) less than a minute into the final stanza on goal from Holman.

Sophomore goalie John Kemp made 12 saves, including nine in the first half, for the Fighting Irish. Steven Rastivo had 13 stops for the Tar Heels. North Carolina held a 36-35 edge in shots. The Tar Heels won 15 of 21 faceoff attempts.

Pairings for the 2011 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship will be announced at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday during the ESPNU Selection Show. The official bracket will be posted on NCAAsports.com. The tournament's first round will take place May 14-15 on campus sites.